Cab Calloway
Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the most popular dance bands in the United States from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. His band included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Jonah Jones, and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Cozy Cole. Calloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming known as the "Hi-de-ho" man of jazz for his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher", originally recorded in 1931. He reached the Billboard charts in five consecutive decades (1930s–1970s). Calloway also made several stage, film, and television appearances until his death in 1994 at the age of 86. He had roles in Stormy Weather (1943), Porgy and Bess (1953), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Hello Dolly! (1967). His career saw renewed interest when he appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Calloway was the first African-American musician to sell a million records from a single and to have a nationally syndicated radio show. In 1993, Calloway received the National Medal of Arts from the United States Congress. He posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. His song "Minnie the Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2019. Three years later in 2022, the National Film Registry selected his home films for preservation as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films". He is also inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame and the International Jazz Hall of Fame. |
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 51-75 of 80 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brunswick | E36213 | 10-in. | 3/3/1931 | Doin’ the rumba | Cab Calloway Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E36665 | 10-in. | 4/28/1931 | Minnie the Moocher | Earl Jackson and his Musical Champions [Mills Blue Rhythm Band] | Jazz/dance band, with vocal (scat) | songwriter | |
Brunswick | E36803 | 10-in. | 6/11/1931 | Black rhythm | Cab Calloway Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E36804 | 10-in. | 6/11/1931 | Six or seven times | Cab Calloway Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E37220 | 10-in. | 9/23/1931 | Bugle call rag | Cab Calloway Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E37221 | 10-in. | 9/23/1931 | You rascal, you | Cab Calloway Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E37265 | 10-in. | 10/21/1931 | Ain’t got no gal in this town | Cab Calloway Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E37266 | 10-in. | 10/21/1931 | Between the devil and the deep blue sea | Cab Calloway Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E37267 | 10-in. | 10/21/1931 | Trickeration | Cab Calloway Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E37268 | 10-in. | 10/21/1931 | Kickin’ the gong around | Cab Calloway Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, vocalist | |
Decca | 109760 | 10/20/1960 | Lost weekend | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 109761 | 10/20/1960 | Dancing man | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 109762 | 10/20/1960 | I'll follow you | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 109763 | 10/20/1960 | Just wait | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111171 | 10/4/1961 | Basin Street blues | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111172 | 10/4/1961 | The birth of the blues | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111173 | 10/4/1961 | Blues in the night | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111174 | 10/4/1961 | I get the blues when it rains | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111175 | 10/6/1961 | Blue prelude | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111176 | 10/6/1961 | Don't worry 'bout me | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111177 | 10/6/1961 | I gotta right to sing the blues | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111178 | 10/6/1961 | Cry me a river | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111179 | 10/10/1961 | St. Louis blues | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111180 | 10/10/1961 | One for my baby (and one more for the road) | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist | |||
Decca | 111181 | 10/10/1961 | Learnin' the blues | Cab Calloway Orchestra | vocalist |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Calloway, Cab," accessed November 22, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/103488.
Calloway, Cab. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 22, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/103488.
"Calloway, Cab." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 22 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Cab Calloway
Discogs: Cab Calloway
Allmusic: Cab Calloway
Apple Music: Cab Calloway
Grove: Cab Calloway
RILM: Cab Calloway
IMDb: Cab Calloway
Britannica: Cab Calloway
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82020542
Wikidata: Cab Calloway - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q273079
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/114594703
MusicBrainz: Cab Calloway - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/315bd083-892b-4e76-a9f0-91a7408168fc
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
Feedback
Send the Editors a message about this record.